Tag: Media Representation

Actor Danielle Brooks as Taystee in Netflix's Orange Is The New Black (Photo credit: Netflix / Orange is the New Black)

By Guest Contributor:Rachel Ko

About
50,000 people a year exit incarceration only
to enter immediately into homeless shelters; legal restrictions and
discrimination against individuals with criminal records are often to blame. As
has been well-documented, the incarceration rate for African Americans is more than six times the incarceration rate
for white Americans. African Americans also make up more than 40 percent of the homeless population, despite
representing only 13 percent of the general population.

Even
though general statistics don’t simultaneously track the effects of race on
incarceration and homelessness,
anti-Black racial stigma amplifies the measurable social impacts of both.
Individuals released from prisons are more likely to be re-arrested for
misdemeanor offense they commit in order to survive on the streets, but many
scholars have failed to sufficiently connect recidivism, homelessness and
incarceration.

A
more successful representation of these connections is the Netflix hit Orange is the New Black. Through Tasha
“Taystee” Jefferson, a compassionate, intelligent, and likeable African
American character, Orange
is the New Black sheds light on the lack of rehabilitative resources
and support systems that cause re-incarceration of individuals suffering from
poverty. Taystee’s story shows us that crime is not a single action; rather, it
is a series of events and complex social factors.

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For weeks we have endured endless chatter about #OscarsSoWhite and how to better increase diversity in Hollywood. Now that the awards season has officially ended and the Academy Awards have been handed out, I can finally give my two cents about this.